Bulgarian Clothing

Bulgarian Clothing
Along with Bulgarian music and dance, traditional Bulgarian clothing is part of the Bulgarian culture and lifestyle. Even though people do not wear the traditional costumes nowadays, you can still see them worn by folklore singers, on weddings, or traditional festivals. Special costumes representing the clothing of old days is often presented in museums. Since most of them were entirely home made back in the day, some of them are very expensive, sewn with expensive beads or other expensive jewelery and accessories. Materials traditionally used in clothing were flax, hemp, wool, silk, etc. Typical footwear was made out of leather and called tcarvouli. Hats were usually worn by men and looked like caps, made of fur.

Traditional costumes for women included:

1. Two-apron costume, including a chemise, two aprons and a belt. The sleeves and the chemise are decorated beautifully with different accessories.
2. The soukman dress, includes a dress which differs depending on the type of textile, the cut and the low neck. It is usually sleeveless.
3. The saya dress, is a tunic like chemise, including saya, an outer garment. The length of the skirt and the sleeves vary.

Traditional costumes for men included:

1. The belodreshna costume, including the tunic shirt, pants and white outer garments.
2. The chernodreshna costumes, were made of black woolen textile, the pant and outer garments made out of different cuts. The pants, called pouturi, are broad with black braiding decoration. The outer clothes are straight cut and waist length.